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Guidance and Outreach on Flexible Funding

The objective of this project is to provide guidance on flexible funding to help state and local governments and transportation operators make better decisions to meet economic needs more effectively. Flexible Funding embodies the notion of "flexing" or transferring funds between different modes of transportation, and helps to ensure more optimum use of current flexible funding provisions. This project will provide guidance for decision makers at the local, regional and state level, including greater familiarity and understanding of the flex funding processes and procedures as well as the issues and emerging techniques of flexible funding. The research addresses barriers, institutional issues, as well as best practice techniques of flexible funding in a multi-modal environment. The scarcity of resources for transportation projects has encouraged a more multi-modal approach to the acquisition, management, and operation of transportation systems nationally. Transportation officials are faced with making economic-based decisions considering the cost and benefit among several alternatives. The flexible funding provision of TEA-21 is one alternative that supports economic-based analysis. Flexible funding provision of TEA-21 supports the "flexing" or transfer of funds from Title 23 of the highway program to transit projects; and from transit funds under Title 49 to roadway projects. It helps to ensure more optimum use of the current flexible funding provisions.